Sick Grocery Run
by CrazyKitCat
Summary: Teddy is sick and Remus needs groceries. What happens when Teddy gets worse in the store?


Remus closed up the bookstore in a panic. After fumbling for his keys—and dropping them a couple times—he finally got the door locked. He had just gotten a call from the daycare saying that his son, Teddy, was really sick. Remus' wife, Nymphadora, had passed away when Teddy was first born. Remus couldn't stand all of the reminders of his late wife in their little Wales countryside cottage, so he had packed up and moved away with Teddy to raise him in America as a single parent. Nineteen months had passed since then and Remus loved Teddy more than anything.

Remus drove as quickly as the snowy and icy Colorado roads would allow. After finally pulling up in front of the daycare, Remus threw the car into park and rushed into the building after almost slipping on a patch of ice. He only took a second to shake off the wet snow in the entryway before racing through the hallways until he reached the principal's office where Teddy was curled up in a ball on the principal's couch. Albus Dumbledore quickly covered what had happened with Teddy—he had a slight stomach bug that made him wake up and get sick during nap time. Remus thanked Albus profusely and scooped Teddy into his arms before carrying him to the car.

Remus made sure Teddy was buckled up in his car seat before carefully slamming the car door shut. Quickly scurrying around the front of the car, Remus hopped in the front seat and turned the heater on high. It was February, but that didn't mean that it wasn't still freezing outside.

Remus used the car's Bluetooth to call Teddy's pediatrician. After listing all of Teddy's symptoms, the nurse assured Remus that it just sounded like a slight cold and assured him Teddy would be fine with a few medicines and fluids. She agreed to schedule an appointment for Teddy in the morning, just in case. After getting a list of things he needed to keep his baby hydrated and feeling better, Remus thanked her and hung up the phone.

Coming up to the intersection with the store, Remus glanced in the rear-view mirror. Teddy looked like he was doing okay, so Remus decided to try chancing a quick trip into the grocery store to get the things he needed for Teddy and a few essentials for the house.

Remus pulled in and put the car in park next to a cart return. Hopping out of the car, Remus grabbed the grocery bags from the trunk and a cart before getting Teddy out of his seat and buckled him into the cart. He wanted to risk as minimal exposure to the cold as possible. Remus hurried them into the store, before pulling up his shopping list on his phone.

For the first 15 minutes in the store, Teddy was doing great. He was being such a good boy, that Remus was incredibly thankful that Teddy had inherited his calm demeanor rather than his mother's bubbly personality. Teddy wasn't whining, screaming, or crying; he was content just being a heavily bundled 19-month-old. Remus even decided to throw an extra chocolate bar into the cart for Teddy to eat when he felt better because he was doing so well in the store.

Remus had just swung into the aisle with the baby food when the chaos started. Teddy's eyes began to water as he looked up at Remus. Remus realized what was about to happen seconds before it did. Teddy opened his mouth and projectile vomited a disgusting yellow liquid all over the front of Remus' coat, the aisle, and his own coat. Trying to breath against the disgusting smell, Remus didn't want Teddy to have to sit in the dampness of his own sick. Remus quickly unbuckled and moved his son from the baby seat on the cart to his hip.

Despite being covered in vomit himself, he was a dad. It wasn't the first time he was covered in one of his son's bodily fluids. He knew that he needed to prioritize purchasing the groceries he already had and getting out of the store over immediately getting clean. Suddenly, things went from bad to worse.

Holding Teddy in one arm and pushing the cart with the other, Remus was headed towards the front of the store with the intent of checking out and coming back for the rest of his groceries later. Before Remus realized what was happening, Teddy started to throw up again; this time directly all over Remus and the center aisle of the store.

Remus noticed a crowd was forming around them out of morbid curiosity; the same way people would slow down on the freeway to investigate a car accident. Instead of offering to help, everyone was whispering, pointing, and staring at Remus try to manage his sick son and his errands. Teddy was crying and Remus was covered in two layers of his son's smelly vomit. He was embarrassed and just wanted to crawl into a hole. Being a single parent wasn't easy on a good day and today was definitely not a good day.

Finally desperate, Remus saw what looked to be an employee out of the corner of his eye. The young man looked to be about Remus' age, if not a little older. He had long black hair tied into a messy bun and wore the store's apron over a white button-down shirt and black jeans.

Remus turned to him, voice trembling and just feeling altogether helpless.

Swallowing his pride and expecting a negative response, he called out to the employee, "Sir, could you please—" before he could even finish asking if the young man could help him, the attractive young man had stepped into action.

He quickly threw the towel that had been sitting over his shoulder onto the floor to cover the sick, and reached his arms out to scoop Teddy out of Remus's arms. He held Teddy out so that Remus could wrestle Teddy's jacket off before moving Teddy to his own hip as Remus took off his own jacket. He quickly hollered to his coworker who seemed to be playing ignorance to the situation to avoid having to help.

"Oi! Peter! Quit acting blind and get over here to clean this up! I'm going to take Mister... "

"Just call me Remus," Remus filled in.

"Sirius," the clerk smiled at Remus before turning back to Peter. "I'm taking Mr. Remus to get his son and himself cleaned up. That needs to get clean immediately. Not when the next guy comes along."

Peter looked slightly ashamed and nodded.

"I'm sorry about the groceries, but I really need to get my son home," Remus tried to apologize to Sirius. "Is there any chance I could ask you to put them back?"

"Absolutely no worries! We're family-run here, so we get things happen and kids get sick or can knock displays over. Now, let's go get you cleaned up and get your little guy here a wet cloth to cool him down and clean him up. I can finish grabbing the rest of your list while you take care of him in the back. There's no need to sacrifice the need for groceries, just because your son got a little sick."

Remus quickly threw his and Teddy's coats in the trash bag that Peter magically procured for him and followed Sirius to the back room. Remus felt like the weight of the world had lifted off his shoulders! Here was a guardian angel who not only was willing to help him out with his shopping, but one who didn't hesitate to hold a puke-covered, crying kid.

"I hate to ask and insult your generosity, but why are you being so nice?" Sirius reached the entrance to the back and held the door open to allow Remus to push his cart into the back room.

"Because I get it," Sirius replied. "Being a single parent is tough. Honestly, I've been there too. I'm the only parent my godson has. His parents and Peter (who you've met just now) were my best friends. Lily and James died in a car accident when Harry was a just a year old. I thought Peter would help me out, but he turned money-hungry and tried to fight me legally for Harry's inheritance when he found out how much had been left. It cost him everything to fight that losing battle and he's held it against me since. I made sure Harry's money got locked up until he's 21 just to be safe. We can manage without it, but it's hard some days. Since then, it's been just me and Harry. So I get it. How about you two clean up in here and I grab the rest of the groceries off of your list?" he offered before quickly grabbing the cart and leaving Remus to clean Teddy in the large kitchenette sink in the staff lounge. Remus couldn't be sure, but he thought he had seen Sirius's ears twinged with red when he left.

Less than 15 minutes later, Sirius was back after grabbing everything on Remus's list. Remus had just removed his sweater to clean the edge of it off when Sirius walked in. If Remus hadn't been sure if Sirius was blushing before, he definitely was now at seeing Remus in just an undershirt and jeans.

Sirius quickly tried to cover his embarrassment with a cough, "I talked to the manager, Molly, about what happened and she told me to comp your cart. She runs a foster care on top of having 7 kids of her own, so she gets it. Her youngest son is actually Harry's favorite playmate!"

"You really didn't have to do that," Remus tried to argue.

"Just let us get our Good Act of Service out of the way today," Sirius winked at Remus, making the latter blush. "Now here's your cart. Double check I got everything and we'll go ring it up for inventory."

Remus tried to argue against the generosity, but Sirius was having none of it and pushed the cart out of the backroom to take it to the front. Remus quickly threw his sweater back on and scooped Teddy up to chase after him. It only took a second to throw the bag with their coats in the trash. He had considered getting them cleaned, but his was falling apart and Teddy was already outgrowing his.

Remus found Sirius up at the front already ringing up his groceries and started to beg them to allow him to pay. Eventually Molly the Manager came up and asked what was going on.

"Please," Remus said. "Sirius has just been too kind to my son and I and I would love to repay his kindness, but now he won't even allow me to pay for my groceries."

Molly looked back and forth between the two young men. After raising several kids of her own, she had started to raise foster kids, so she was no spring chicken. She was too experienced for anyone to pull the wool over her eyes and she knew immediately that this was the "cute sweater-vest guy" that Sirius always seemed to swoon over in the backroom. She sent Sirius a quick look with narrowed eyes that made him blush as he ducked his head. Clucking her tongue in amusement, she turned to Remus.

"Please, allow us to take care of you today. You seem to have had a long day, so you can just pay it forward later," she smiled. "Now how about we go outside and get your young man here in a nice toasty car while Sirius finishes up your cart."

"Are you sure?" Remus asked. "I really don't mind paying."

"We insist," Molly smiled. "Now let's go! I can get your boy buckled up while you get the car started and warmed up!"

After a brief extra moment of indecision, Remus realized that neither Molly or Sirius would allow him to pay, so he adjusted Teddy on his hip and followed Molly outside. When they got to his car, he unlocked it and handed Teddy to Molly as he quickly jumped in the front to get the engine running so the heater would blow hot air. In the 5 seconds it took to do that and double check the emergency break was engaged, Molly had Teddy buckled up securely and was tickling his feet to make him laugh instead of cry. Remus was shocked at her speed and quickly realized that Sirius hadn't been exaggerating when talking about Molly's prowess at parenting.

Once she was certain that Teddy was as happy and comfortable as possible, Molly turned around and shook Remus's hand before heading back inside, passing Sirius on her way.

Sirius quickly helped load Remus's cart into the trunk. After making sure they were secure, Remus shut the trunk and double-checked Teddy was still okay in the backseat before turning to Sirius.

"I really have no idea how to thank you for everything," Remus said as he stuck his hand out to shake Sirius'.

"It was really no problem, so stop sweating it!" Sirius smiled. "But listen, if you ever need extra help, give me a call. I wrote my number on your voided receipt and threw it in with one of the bags."

"You have to let me pay you back for your generosity," Remus tried one last time.

Sirius sighed and hung his head with a chuckle. Shaking his head, he finally gave in. "You're damn persistent, you know that?... Fine. How about you give me a call and treat Harry and I to a couple of burgers once Teddy feels better. Then we'll be even."

Remus stared at Sirius for a minute, before he came to the realization that Sirius had just asked Remus out. Or rather, he told Remus to ask HIM out. To dinner. On what sounded like a date with their kids. Now, Remus had always been bisexual, but had never thought a guy as hot as Sirius would want to go out with him. So he blushed.

"I'd like that. A lot."

"Brilliant," Sirius smirked. "It's a date."

* * *

**DISCLAIMER: I got the idea for this story from a news article I read about a father that this happened to at a Meijers. Their story was very different (ie. no romance or flirting since his wife was working not dead and the clerk just sounded like a kind teen, not Sirius Black), but I want to give that credit just in case. This story is inspired by, not copied after that article. No copyright is intended.**


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